We’re Number 101! Every World Series Champion Ranked 1-108.

In honor of his beloved (but stunningly average) Giants’ surprising World Series win, Jim Jividen ranks all of the Fall Classic winners from 1 to 108.

I didn’t pick my San Francisco Giants to win the World Series this season.

Not before the season, not entering the playoffs, not entering the NLCS, not entering the World Series.

Why?

The Giants weren’t that good; by Pythagorean record, the best snapshot of how a team performs during the regular season, the Giants were an 88 win team in 2012. This Giants team was only the 18th best in San Francisco history.

Billy Beane once said “my shit doesn’t work in the playoffs” – meaning that the best team doesn’t necessarily come through a short series, and if there’s one thing you should really understand about baseball in the 21st century it’s that we grow further and further away from the idea that the best team should win the World Series.

There have been 108 years of World Series Champions, that’s a helluva good sample size; 96 of those Champions had at least 90 pythagorean wins (and 50 had 100+ wins). So, if you’re forecasting a postseason and see a 88 win Giants team and know that (at that point) only 11 of 107 World Series teams had sub-90 win Pythagorean records, it makes sense to cast your lot with a different club. 96 of 107 WS winners were 90+ Pythagorean win teams. Therefore –an 88 win team is not a great bet.

But here’s the thing.

Of those 11 World Champions who didn’t crack 90 wins, 6 were since 1995.

Because that’s when the Wild Card was added.

We’ve gone from 2 teams making the postseason to 4 to 8 to 10, and just in this century alone 4 sub 90 pythagorean win teams have won the World Series.

Well, now it’s five.

With each added short series, the possibility that the best team makes its way through to the end diminishes. Baseball was a marathon; a 6 month daily race that then culminated in a heavyweight fight in October. It’s now a marathon that culminates in penalty kicks. Your goaltender leans the wrong way and you go home.

I’m not complaining about the result; my Giants have won two of these shootouts. But we should recognize that the system has changed. It could be that change if for the better; that would not be my view (despite how it’s benefited me) but one could say that in the 21st century making the regular season a feeder for a baseball tournament is what is needed to keep the sport viable. Baseball is entertainment and the World Series is no longer designed to acknowledge the best team over a full season but the team best constructed/most fortunate in a short series.

Here, is every World Series winner in MLB history ranked by regular season pythagorean record, normalized for a 162 game season. Every player from each team with a WAR (Baseball Reference version) over 5 is listed. The team each beat in the WS, with its Pythagorean win total, is also listed.

1. 1939 Yankees 119-Gehrig’s last year, but it was DiMaggio’s team, he was a 9+ WAR (I combine the B-Ref and Davenport numbers, it’s the WAR value I prefer and the number I’ll be referencing in text; when it comes to the list of the 5 win players at the end of each team’s recap I’m just referencing B-Ref, as previously mentioned) player. Yanks were 23 pythag wins ahead of the next best team in the AL and swept a 99 pythag win Reds team in the Series. The best team in baseball history? The ’39 Yankees. 5 WAR players= Dimaggio, Dickey, Gordon, Keller, Rolfe, Selkirk, Ruffing (d. Reds 99 pythag wins)

2. 1927 Yankees 114 -Maybe the most famous team ever; Gehrig’s WAR was 11+; his best season ever. Ruth also went over 11. There might be a better 1-2 combo someplace in sports history than Ruth/Gehrig in ’27, but it wouldn’t be by much. They swept the Series and finished 22 pythag wins ahead of the next best AL team. WAR Above 5.0: Combs, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Ruth, Hoyt, Moore (d. Pirates 96)

3. 1942 Cardinals 113-Two Cardinals teams battle for the title of best NL team of all time; note both are in the WWII era; Enos Slaughter (WAR 8+) had his best season in ’42 and was the best player on the club; just outdistancing 21 year old rookie Musial (6+). The Dodgers were also over a hundred pythag wins in ’42, so the distance between they and the Cards was just four games. The Yanks had a monster pythag also (the Cards beat them in 5) and that makes the ’42 Series the best matchup ever. Musial, Slaughter, Cooper (d. Yankees 112)

4. 1944 Cardinals 113-’44 was Musial (9+) and everyone else; the Cards took advantage of the WW2 downturn in MLB talent to hold a 23 pythag win advantage in the NL and beat an overmatched Browns in a 6 game WS. Hopp, Musial (d. Browns 92)

5. 1909 Pirates 111-35 year old Honus Wagner was easily the pacesetter for the ’09 Pirates with his 9+ WAR. This is the first team on the list which wasn’t the best in its league during the regular season (the Cubs had 109 pythag wins, same as the ’27 Yanks, but finished 6 and a half games out). Also the first team on the list who had to go to a seventh game to win the WS. Clarke, Wagner, Camnitz, Willis (d. Tigers 102, the second series so far on the list where both clubs were 100 win teams)

6. 1905 NYGiants 111-The Giants refused to play the AL Champ in ’04, but gave in here to crack the top 10; this is the first team whose best player was a pitcher (Mathewson, obviously 9+). New York was only 1 pythag game better than the Cubs, who were extra unlucky, as they finished in 3rd overall 13 games out. The Giants beat the A’s in the Series; imagine being able to show the fans of each club in 1905 that 84 years later there would be a rematch with both clubs residing in Northern California. What would I have to tell you about two current teams playing in 2096 to equal that? Donlin, McGann, Mathewson (d. Athletics 98)

7. 1910 Athletics 111-Eddie Collins (9+) and Jack Coombs (9+) gave the A’s the first position player/pitcher combo to have MVP quality years for the same club on this list; they had a 14 game pythag advantage in the AL and beat a 101 pythag win Cub team in 5 in the WS. Collins, Bender, Coombs (d. Cubs 106)

8. 1998 Yankees 108 (Best team since ’61.)-The best team in modern baseball history, you ask? The best regular season post WWII WS champion was the ’98 Yankees. This is the first team on the list without an MVP caliber season (Jeter was highest at 7+ WAR, you really want to hit 8 WAR to be called an MVP); the Yanks finished 12 pythag wins up in the AL and swept the Padres in the WS. Brosius, Jeter, O’Neill, Williams, (d. Padres 93)

9. 1948 Indians 108-Lou Boudreau’s 11+ WAR was his career season and the best season by anyone on the list so far not named Ruth or Gehrig; they were 7 pythag wins best in the AL and won the WS in 6. Boudreau, Gordon, Keltner, Bearden, Lemon (d. Braves 98)

10. 1937 Yankees 108DiMaggio (8+), Gehrig (8+), and Gomez (8+) become the first team on the list with 3 MVPQuality seasons. Gehrig played on 3 of the ten best teams in baseball history. Dickey, Dimaggio, Gehrig, Gomez, Ruffing (d. Giants 94)

12. 1907 Cubs 108 (102)It’s Tinker to Evers to Chance – but none had an MVPQuality season in fact, there wasn’t a Cub even in the vicinity of an MVPQ season (Orvall Overall 5+ was their best player). Brown, Lungren, Overall (d. Tigers 101)

14. 1953 Yankees 108-A half dozen Yankee teams in the top 14 of all time. Mantle, (d. Dodgers 110 – the first upset, at 110 pythagorean wins that Dodger team is their best team ever and one of the great WS losers ever)

15. 1917 White Sox 108Eddie Cicotte (10+ WAR) had the best pitching season on the list thusfar, disgrace still a couple years away. Collins, Felsch, Jackson, Cicotte (d. Giants 105)

16. 1929 Athletics 108Foxx, Grove, Walberg (d. Cubs 100)

17. 1975 Reds 107-The best season by any player on the list so far – Joe Morgan’s 12+ WAR in 1975. Bench, Morgan, Rose (d. Red Sox 90)

22. 1932 Yankees 104Ruth (8+) is the only MVPQ for the ’32 club; the 8th Yankee team on the list and the fifth Gehrig. Combs, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Ruth, Ruffing (d. Cubs 90)

23. 1976 Reds 103Morgan (10 WAR) becomes the first player on the list to hit 10 twice. He was the engine of the big red machine and its best player by a solid margin. Foster, Morgan, Rose (d. Yankees 98)